Prodigy will attend either UC Davis or UC Santa Cruz as a junior transfer student
Tanishq Abraham, a 12-year-old child prodigy and young genius, was recently accepted into both UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz. Abraham plans to enter either UC as a junior transfer student majoring in bioengineering this Fall.
Abraham’s father, Bijou Abraham, said that his son has been fascinated with topics such as chemistry, mathematics and geology since a young age.
“He was naturally born to like science,” said Bijou Abraham. “He started out fascinated with things like the periodic table. He loves all the sciences.”
Abraham became a member of Mensa, the international high-IQ society whose qualification for membership is a score in the 98th percentile of the general population on a standardized intelligence test, at four years old. Abraham scored in the 99.9th percentile on the Mensa IQ test.
Since then, Abraham has succeeded in academics. He was homeschooled all of elementary and high school and graduated at age 10.
Abraham has even gone on to speak at public events, becoming the youngest person to attend NASA Ames, a major NASA research center based in the Silicon Valley, and speak and present a poster at NASA’s conference in July 2012. He has also been invited to speak at a TEDx conclave that was held in Sacramento in 2013.
Dr. Taji Abraham, Abraham’s mother and a UC Davis alum, believes that her son’s profound intelligence has not interfered with his outgoing personality and that this has been a rewarding experience, with only a few minor challenges.
“In terms of social and emotional issues, he is a very social [and] mature child, he is like any other child,” said Abraham’s mother. “For his educational needs, it has been a bit difficult having to choose between something like two great schools. The most challenging we have had to work with is the educational system. But we face the challenges you know, for Tanishq and his want to learn.”
Abraham’s father thinks it is Abraham’s acknowledgement of his own capabilities and love to learn that keeps them all going.
“I think he provides his own motivation on what he likes to learn and he focuses on what he likes to do,” said Abraham’s father. “Our challenge is just to keep him going.”
Abraham has set high goals, planning on entering the medical realm after he completes his undergraduate career.
“I want to become a doctor and medical researcher,” Abraham said.
When asked what he thinks keeps him so interested in learning and his advice for others, he said he believes it is making education fun that matters.
“It has to be something to be fun and something you enjoy,” Abraham said.” It is not easy for me, but I put in lots of hard work. So hard work and fun is what I say.”
Abraham and his family recently visited the UC Davis campus, and they were very interested in the labs and speaking with professors.
“I like the Davis campus,” Abraham said. “It was very interesting, especially after meeting professors.”
In the end, Abraham’s parents hope he enjoys what he does and is happy where he chooses, and that he still learns to grow and be a well-rounded person.
“We hope that he achieves and succeeds and we hope that he becomes a good human being,” said Abraham’s father.
Written by: Demi Caceres–campus@theaggie.org
6/3/16 Note: Changes made for accuracy.
